We all remember the shock late last year when young Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, was shot – in broad daylight – by a Taliban assassin. The teenager recovered, resettled in the UK and then heroically addressed the United Nations on her 16th birthday – this month – vowing not to be silenced by terrorists.

Nine months after a gunman shot her on a bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley for demanding education for girls, Malala Yousafzai received multiple standing ovations at the United Nations Youth Assembly in New York. She addressed nearly 1,000 students from around the world and her speech was immediately hailed for its power.

Bravely, Ms Yousafzai showed the attack on her had done nothing to dim her passion for girls’ education. She has not returned to Pakistan, due to persistent Taliban threats against her.

In what can only be described as a surprising turnaround, a Taliban commander has written to Ms Yousafzai, saying he regretted her shooting last year by militants and has urged her to come home :: Read the full article »»»»

A 14-year-old Pakistani girl who campaigned for children’s rights is fighting for her life after being shot in the head on her school bus by a cowardly Taliban gunman. Malala Yousafzai had campaigned for girls’ education and was nominated for an international peace prize. Malala Yousafzai won international recognition for highlighting Taliban atrocities in Swat with a blog for the BBC three years ago, when Islamist militants burned girls’ schools and terrorized the valley.

Malala Yousafzai was shot in broad daylight in Mingora, the main town of the Swat valley, raising serious questions about security more than three years after the army claimed to have crushed a Taliban insurgency there. Malala was flown to the north-western city of Peshawar where a team of senior doctors said she was in a critical condition. Two other girls were injured in the attack.

Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP the Islamist group carried out the attack after repeatedly warning Malala to stop speaking out against them :: Read the full article »»»»

OPINION! …Islamic community leaders need to GET A GRIP! remove the RADICAL elements, CUT the rhetoric and calm the rest of us with a little unity and LEADERSHIP! The truth is always averagely simple! The Australian Public watches the news nightly on their tv sets, sat there with the kids, possibly gnawing away at dinner. Three nights in a row each and every tv station is running news on the escalating violence, destruction of property, the anti US protests in the middle east. On the fourth night the Australian public watches the tv news and that same fracas is occurring in it’s own city!?

UPDATE! Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister – and former Premier of New South Wales – Bob Carr has waded into the discussion over Sydney’s Muslim riot, urging the Australian public not to blame the broader Muslim community for the behaviour of what he called a “Telephone Box Minority” Australia’s Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen has also chirped into the criticism and indicated he may cancel the visas of any “non-citizens” charged after the weekend’s violent protests in Sydney ::

UPDATE!As this post is being penned news is coming in via wires and Reuters that there has been an explosion of protests around the globe, including protests in London and Sydney. The theme of the protests is similar to those occurring in the middle east.

Reuters has quoted a protester in London as saying that he doesn’t believe in freedom of speech, that no one is allowed to criticise his prophet. Oh the irony… When asked if he understood that he was exercising his right to free speech, he responded that he did, “but he wasn’t criticising Mohamed.”

It’s hard to believe, less than 2 years the world celebrated the Islamic worlds uprising for justice, a fight to right the many wrongs imposed upon it by corrupt and brutal regimes. The Arab spring that kicked of in mid December 2010 has smouldered on to what can now only be viewed as a brawl without a good cause.

While Syrians continue their territorial to-and-fro – displacing hundreds of thousands of refugees to bordering nations, and displacing millions of citizens within the war torn country – the rest of the Arab world is busy bashing down any symbol of westernisation.

Kicking off in Cairo on Tuesday, crowds of angry muslim protestors vented their anger over an anti-Islamic film released on youtube.com, the initial Cairo protest has been reported as consisting mostly of hardline Islamists, supporters of the Salafist movement.

The protests have now moved to Tunisa – the original Arab Spring – Sudan, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, as well as continuing in Egypt and Libya WARNING VIDEO CONTENT MAY BE OFFENSIVE :: Read the full article »»»»

Late last month we reported on an 11 year old mentally imaired girl who was taken into custody for burning the Koran, as if trying to prove western suspicions that Islam is Evil?

A well respected Pakistani Muslim Imam has been arrested, accused of planting the burnt pages of the Koran in the bag of a Christian girl being held on charges of blasphemy.

Rimsha Mashir – believed to be aged between 11 – 13 – has been in custody since she was arrested in the poor Islamabad suburb of Mehrabad more than two weeks ago. She is accused of burning papers containing verses from the Koran, in breach of Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws, if found guilty the child faces the death penalty.

Local Muslim cleric Hafiz Khalid Chishti has been accused of planting evidence to strengthen the case against the girl. Chishti was arrested on Saturday after his assistants told a magistrate he had added pages from the Koran to the burnt pages :: Read the full article »»»»